The Arrival
by Rixi101
Summary: Is it possible that the galaxy is vast enough that we can get two stories simultaneously running together? How would they react if they discovered each other? Would they seek out each others destruction or would common interests sway them to work together? Only one thing is certain. Whatever happens, someone is not going to agree.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

The galaxy is a massive place. Within it lie countless stars full of orbiting planets, at the moment we have explored just a fraction of it. There are star systems with large gas giants orbiting around them in the outer edge of the solar system, looking closely at them you see storms with hundreds of miles an hour winds rushing across its chaotic atmosphere. Closer in you begin to see the much smaller and rocky planets. Here the possibility of life is present. Too close and the sun's constant buffering from its solar winds makes its atmosphere negligible and scorching hot, life cannot form. Too far away and the suns heat becomes too insufficient to be able to support complex organisms.

You would therefore say that finding a planet in the 'goldilocks zone' would be the equivalent of finding a needle in an abnormally large haystack. Even if you find a planet which is in exactly the right position away from the sun with many of the correct conditions for life to begin, for simple microorganisms to evolve into much more complex beings it is never a certainty, it is luck. There are too many ways to disrupt a growing species from developing into its true potential. A meteor strike, a comet containing new and deadly pathogens, the species itself may develop into many different factions and after many years of deceit and fighting unleash a rain of nuclear fire dooming everyone and everything on the planet. But eventually a species will rise above the hold that the planet has on them. With an advanced knowledge of how the universe works they may explore the stars and settle on new and exotic planets. But how much of a dent are they truly making?

Is it possible that the galaxy is vast enough with its billions of stars and billions of planets that we can get two stories simultaneously running together? Is there a chance that supposed galactic super powers who are so sure of their knowledge and power believing they are at their apex with no other potential challengers be wrong?

Maybe their galactic community isn't the only one, what they know, what they have learnt, what they have taught isn't the only thing that powers the galaxy. Maybe their galactic wars are just a mere fraction of the galaxies true potential. Two stories colliding, the galaxy suddenly seems a much larger place.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Halo of Mass Effect. They belong to 343 Industries and Bioware respectively.**_

**Author Note: Before I get into the story I think it's best to tell you the situation regarding all the important halo races. I've kept times and dates to a minimum because I want to initially start with a descriptive time line before the story telling begins :P **

**Also massive thanks to Bloody Viper 1 for checking through my work and helping me out when my halo knowledge fails me.**

A lot has happened since the Human-Covenant war ended in the year 2553. The Jiralhanae without the guiding force of the San 'Shyuum have reverted back to their primitive nature and have begun waging a destructive civil war against each other with massive losses on both sides. The Jiralhanae are now very rarely seen outside their territory with many people predicting that they are now likely to fight themselves into oblivion. But close attention does have to be placed in them in case a victor of the civil war appears who once again dreams of his kind becoming a feared race in the galaxy once more.

The San 'Shyuum the once omnipresent force of the Covenant empire, have fled into deep space. But with so few of them left, extinction is very likely. They have always had selective breeding since the several thousand Reformists commandeered the forerunner dreadnought escaping the San 'Shyuum homeworld, leaving the Stoics behind (The Reformists believed that they should use the forerunner dreadnought for study and advance their technology, the stoics however believed this was heresy and they should merely worship it.) The Stoics were eventually be wiped out during a natural stellar collapse. Now, with most of their population consumed by the flood when High Charity was taken over, there are so few left that even selective breeding will be unable to rescue the ever-shrinking gene pool, with many genetic flaws becoming present due to the inevitable interbreeding.

The Kig-Yar has once again fallen back into piracy. They have begun establishing many small colonies on asteroids in several star systems. They lay in wait for an unsuspecting merchant ship to flyby where they attack ferociously killing all occupants regardless of what species it contains. Then they either scuttle the ship or they keep it and it becomes another addition to the assortment of different ships they contain in their fleet. Some Kig-Yar have become trading partners with humans mainly insurrectionists who are not at all bitter of the Human-Covenant war and have recognised the potential of having the Kig-Yar as trading partners, just as long as they don't ask questions about where the goods have come from.

The Sangheili race shortly after the war was in a state of mass confusion since the Great Schism. Everything from their food to their weapons and technology had been provided for them by the San 'Shyuum for the first time in thousands of years the Sangheili would have to do everything themselves. However this may prove difficult for an honour bound race such as the Sangheili, no young Sangheili will be willing to slave away for hours on a field growing food. In February 2553 Lord Terrence Hood arrived on Sanghelios to formalise the cease-fire with the Arbiter (Thel 'Vadam). Now the Human Sangheili maintains a frosty relationship towards each other. Many humans still hold much animosity towards the Sangheili after they tried to wipe out the entire human race. However they have still become trading partners and in 2562 a defensive pact between the two species was announced. The Arbiter and Lord Hood will support each other if they ever encountered another hostile species.

Humanity was slowly recovering after the war. Billions of people had been killed and dozens of planets glassed by the Covenant. Humanity had to rebuild. They had to contact all of the outer colonies to see if they have survived the systematic destruction of every human planet encountered by the Covenant. Their battered fleet had to rebuild and recover, terraforming had to be done on many inner colonies including Reach the UNSC's hub of  
military power. Humanity had to recover because in the vastness of our galaxy you never know what is going to happen next.

* * *

February 2553- Lord Hood is set to arrive on Sanghelios to formalise the cease-fire with the Arbiter; however he is unaware that a coup has begun under leader 'Telcam who sets to oust the Arbiter due to his friendliness with humanity. The Arbiter begins losing badly and his keep is under siege with forces greater than his own. Hood arrives just in time with the UNSC Infinity and offers assistance, reluctantly the Arbiter accepts and the battle suddenly turns very one sided and with a well placed MAC directly into the ground forces of 'Telcam, the Arbiter can now go on the counter offensive and the battle is won.

March 3rd 2553- To mark the end of the Human-Covenant war a monument is erected in Kenya, only five Spartans II survived the war and the whereabouts of John 117 is as of yet unknown.

January 2554 - Lord Hood announces his decision to lead a diplomatic mission regarding the reconstruction efforts on surviving colonies.

November 2554 - Several colonies amongst the Chi Cheti system have openly stated their stance against their continued involvement in the UNSC, this mentality is steadily spreading amongst the outer colonies who were previously indifferent towards the UNSC; this came from the sense of abandonment during the Human-Covenant war.

_'Why do we bother to force unhappy colony worlds to stay in the fold? Because the UNSC budgets and UNSC heavy lift enabled those colonies to exist. Because the UNSC needs as many supply bases in deep space as we can get. And because they're human, they're us. In a galaxy of hostile aliens, you're either for us, or you're the enemy'-**Admiral Margaret Parangosky**_

The UNSC once again gears up for another Insurrectionists campaign.

December 2556- Plans for another 5 Infinity Class ships to be built at the Oort Cloud have been accepted. The 5km long heavy warships are the pride of the UNSC Navy, this class of ship boasts an impressive 190 inches of Titanium-A3 armour plating; this of course is a moot point unless the incredibly powerful reverse engineered Forerunner shields are brought down. They contain a massive armament with several heavy MACs, thousands of Archer missiles and hundreds of point defence guns. A few of the ships among this class will receive experimental reverse engineered energy projectors to make the Infinity Class a ship not to be trifled with.

June 2557- The UNSC begins an aggressive campaign on former colony worlds, Venezia being the hardest hit. Spartan IV's are deployed into the most dangerous regions with great success. However, although the UNSC have re-established bases on the planet there is still a deep-lying hatred of the UNSC from the population. Many patrols are ambushed with frequent IED's placed along patrol routes, the most noticeable of which managing to take out 6 Spartan IV's leading to a heavy backlash from UNSC forces destroying many Insurrectionist bases and wiping out dozens of Insurrectionists. Civilian casualties were heavy. Rebuilding of the colonies begin to ensure that the production of vital resources for the UNSC comes swiftly stabilising the economy from dropping into a depression.

March 2558- The Sangheili are in a state of massive depression. Too few have volunteered to tend the fields and take up other mundane activities that are vital in sustaining an empire, their home planet Sanghelios has collapsed economically, culturally and militarily. The only thing keeping the planet from dropping into a fierce civil war is the strong leadership abilities of Thel 'Vadam.

June 2558- Admiral Margaret Parangosky, head of ONI, steps down allowing her protege Serin Osman to replace her

May 2559- Thel 'Vadam slowly begins bringing the Sangheili out of the ashes of their depression. Through introducing new laws and appeasing the city-state leaders Sanghelios was beginning to get back on its feet. Unknown to most of the Sangheili however, a deal was struck with the UNSC, which was handling the ending of the war much better than any other race. The UNSC would supply the Sangheili with resources and secretly help rebuild its fleet. Despite being on the receiving end of a genocidal war by the Covenant member the UNSC saw the potential value the Sangheili as allies in protection of space.

January 2560- The Sangheili along with the Unggoy and Mgalekgolo announce a coalition together to help deal with the Covenant Loyalist's threat. The loyalists have been weakened without the San 'Shyuum to guide them and without the Huragok to maintain their ships.

May 2560- Due to the size of the UNSC, the Insurrectionists have settled into a guerrilla warfare campaign. Although loses on both sides have now decreased every so often there will be an explosion and the firing of assault rifles but as soon as it starts it finishes. The Insurrectionists seem to be following the plans laid down by the Mujahedeen and the Viet-cong during the occupation of Afghanistan and Vietnam respectively. The UNSC has to be constantly looking at the time and cost of their operations while the Insurrectionists have lived on their planets for years and will continue to do so hundreds of years into the future. All they have to do is wait out the UNSC and constantly remind them that they are ready and waiting.

November 2562- The Covenant Loyalist threat has mostly been eradicated by the Coalition, now able to stand on its own feet after the UNSC spared resources to stop the Sangheili from collapsing into a civil war. Only a few Loyalist redoubts remain. The UNSC and the Coalition announce a defensive pact if the threat of a new hostile species was ever to arise.

June 2563- The UNSC builds dozens of lightly armoured explorer vessels with missions to locate new habitable planets for colonisation, find the remaining halo rings to be studied and decommissioned, and locate valuable caches of resources for use in the rebuilding effort alongside using the materials in building new warships. The UNSC also offers incentives for independent prospectors to take to the stars and discover rare earth elements that can be used for vital components in space ships and many other electronics.

May 2564- Terraforming begins on many of the former colony worlds mainly Reach the UNSC's former military hub.

June 2564- Surveyors report 10 planets on the edge of UNSC space that are perfect for colonisation. Millions of people flock to them, maybe hoping to start a new life where they can forget all the hardship they have faced in the past 36 years. Of the 10 planets the centre hub of these colonies is called Shanxi which has faced the most development.

**And so our story begins...**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

_Asteroid field on the edge of UNSC space, nearest civilisation is the colony of Shanxi._

May 1st 2565

Independent prospector Bradley Gollaglee gazed across the bridge of his small vessel with a smug grin on his face, a young rugged man with bright ginger hair he really had nothing to worry him in his life. Too young to be called up to fight the Covenant during the Great War, he grew up on a very secluded and insignificant colony world that the Covenant never arrived at, so his life was relatively normal growing up. But the safe, quiet life he would have had on his homeworld was simply too dull and boring for him. The lure of space and adventure discovering new and exotic things were too great for him. Straight out of university with a degree in Physics he headed to the independent shipyard on the planet and with the small fortune inherited from his family bought a rusty old vessel that would require a lot of work before it could be considered space-worthy.

He chuckled to himself as he looked across his immaculate ship, every inch of it was bright and clean. At the front of the bridge lay an array of monitors processing data from sensors all around the ship, some beaming their signals out into space to pick up any nearby ships moving along the asteroid belt. Standing in front of the monitors stood two of his crew members, the others worked in the engine room or in the cargo bay making sure all the machinery needed to collect and store the different types of elements they mined was in working order. He had come far in such a few short years. Now he was captain of a ship, his pride and joy, the _Andromeda_. A soft beeping drew his attention away from reminiscing about his younger life. As he turned towards the ships intercom, the voice of his crewmate Jon down in engineering emanated from it "Captain Gollaglee, we are five minutes away from the asteroid field".

"Good" he replied striding up to his console at the centre of the bridge, a rough picture of the asteroid belt popping up as he arrived at it "Ok, when we get into range of the asteroid field begin scanning this area for the largest asteroids and give me a report on the largest 100 of them," he said while marking small, 250,000 cubic-kilometre section of the asteroid belt on his monitor. "Affirmative sir, beginning course correction now," reported Jon signing off the intercom.

The soft hum of the engine changed pitch slightly as the ship began turning towards the centre of the area designated by the captain. It would be another five minutes before his ship reached the asteroid belt.

Bradley used the time to walk through the _Andromeda_ to make sure everything is in perfect condition. A relatively small ship only housing a crew of six, it was surprisingly bulky due to its very large cargo hold vital for transporting the rare earth elements that Bradley was trying to locate and deliver to the UNSC. However its size and rusty outer shell is only a ruse. Underneath it is a state of the art ship with top-of-the-line navigational systems and scanners, a powerful engine that made the ship surprisingly fast and nippy, allowing the _Andromeda _toeasily weave in and around ships or asteroids, and of course a slipspace drive for jumps from the outer colonies to the inner ones.

Even though he was from the outer colonies, Gollaglee had no bad feelings towards the UNSC. The decision of abandoning the outer colonies in his opinion was a logical choice in regards of defending Humanity's home, Earth. Sacrificing the few for the many was something that he could accept. Therefore, when the UNSC arrived it was simply just an interesting day for his homeworld, a break in the monotonous cycle that they had gotten used to. Resistance against the UNSC was very minimal, and soon enough the UNSC had joined in on the boring life-cycle of the planet.

"Captain," a voice crackled over the loudspeaker, "stop touring the ship and come up to the bridge. We're just about to begin scanning the asteroid field."

Shaking his head in exasperation, Bradley turned around and headed back towards the bridge. Only one person would talk to him like that on his ship, his first mate Greg who had been his best friend from his homeworld. "Ok Greg, how about we cut the attitude and why don't you bring up the results from the preliminary scan" he ordered in a stern tone striding into the bridge.

"Aye aye sir" replied Greg bringing up the results on the main console while smirking slightly as he knows Brads tone is just an act. "Ok, results from the scan are up, 100 different asteroids ranging from 50-10km in length, we're getting traces of silicon, titanium and uranium should be a good hau... Wait a second... That can't be right," he says his brow furrowed as he rapidly manipulated the results in an attempt to make sense of them.

"What is it Greg?" Brad asked, leaning over his shoulder to look at the rapidly changing symbols on Greg's screen. "Well sir I, er, don't really know what it is. Look here" he said, all joking aside now as he snaps into attention, pointing at a relatively small asteroid about 15km long on the outer edge of the asteroid belt. "It's causing our computers to go haywire and when I focused the scan in on the asteroid I found it was made of up... well I don't know, but whatever it is its incredibly resilient."

"Is it forerunner?" Brad questioned knowing that forerunner materials are mostly unusual and unknown.

"I don't know sir," Greg admitted, "but whatever it is we can't learn more unless we get closer as it's completely covered in ice. It must have been floating in space undisturbed for thousands of years."

"Ok Greg, here's what we're going to do," Brad said determinately, "bring the ship about 2km from the asteroid and then deploy the scavenger bots on the surface of the asteroid to collect samples. Once we recover the bots we need to head over to the UNSC base on Shanxi and tell them of this find." A joyful feeling grew in his chest; this was a tremendous discovery.

'Sir," Greg responded, taking control of the ships engines and deftly guiding the ship through the asteroid field.

"Ok, bringing up the shutters let's take a proper look at this asteroid." A loud metallic sound reverberated through the ship as the shutters protecting the front of the bridge from any debris rose up into a locked position, leaving a wide open viewing screen exposing the asteroid just a short distance away and growing larger as the ship inched its way towards it.

"Never gets old gazing into space does it Greg?" Brad commented as the ship closed in on the asteroid, backlit by the sun it orbited, a beautiful scene.

"No it doesn't sir, I still wake up every single day smiling when I think about what I do for a living travelling across the stars," Greg replied, slowing the ship down to a crawl as it reached its destination, "releasing scavenger bots."

But just as he said that, a large crack appeared on the surface of the asteroid. They stared in disbelief as the asteroid ahead of them began to break up, a faint blue orb appearing in the centre of the object and growing larger and larger. A small ring breaks out of the ice encompassing it and begins rotating faster and faster around the blue orb. Suddenly, a pulse wave erupts from the object disintegrating all of the remaining ice surrounding it and leaving a pristine object that looks like it had just been released from a factory. "Wow..." Brad muttered lightly unable to tear his gaze off the object bathing the bridge with its eerie blue glow. "Alert the UNSC, they're going to want to see this."

* * *

When the UNSC lock down an area, they really lock down the area. ONI representatives briefly interviewed the captain of the _Andromeda_, Bradley Gollaglee but after a few minutes it was evident that he knew absolutely nothing about what was going on. So he and his crew were allowed to leave, but warned not to speak of this to anyone under the penalty of death. But sticking to their words they were rewarded for their significant find. In the next few hours, a small fleet made up of frigates and cruisers from the surrounding colonies had the system surrounding the 'object' cornered off. No ship was allowed within 10km of it. People from ONI had already begun examining it and had quickly established that the 'object' was not of forerunner origin. Its design was somewhat similar to that of forerunners-the floating ring rotating around the glowing orb in its fixed position was reminiscent of the design seen on many forerunner buildings-but was much curvier than the straight, sharp edges that characterised forerunner architecture. Moreover the 'object' was much much older than any other known forerunner artefacts, dating back millions of years and suggesting to many people that whoever designed this type of architecture may have been an influence for the forerunners. Unfortunately, this find only leads to more questions than answers. Who was this new race? Where are they now? Is this the only remnant of them or are there more objects just like this one? What does the 'object' do and how can it be operated? These are some of the many questions that leading experts from all around UNSC space are expected to answer.

Strangely enough, the discovery of how the 'object' worked was by sheer chance. The pulse wave that echoed throughout the asteroid field when the 'object' first started, disrupted the rotation and gravitational pull on many of the smaller asteroids surrounding the 'object'. A little while later, a 250m long asteroid crashed straight into another causing it to splinter into several pieces. One 100m long portion was disrupted enough that once the gravitational pull of the sun and surrounding asteroids had established its new orbit it would collide with the 'object' in just a few hours.

* * *

_Aboard the UNSC battleship _Churchill

The room was dimly lit, giving it a haunted feeling. In the middle of a room sat a large oak table with data pads strewn across it. Two men were sitting next to each other arguing. One was head of the operation, ONI Operative Jeff Frasier, the other was an old greying scientist called Stephen Leather.

"How on Earth does a find as significant as this lay unknown in UNSC space for this long? You headed the exploratory vessel for this system so tell me!" exclaimed Jeff slamming his fist into the table for emphasis.

"Preliminary scans of the object showed us that the device is 'cold' meaning it doesn't emit heat or radiation, it would have been impossible to have found it unless we had rammed the bloody thing!" Stephen retorted in his crisp English accent "What are your plans on the asteroid closing in on it?"

"Destroy it, we can use the MAC cannon on the _Churchill_ to blast the thing into ash" Jeff said, the situation beginning to calm down.

"No you shouldn't, you should leave it." Stephen replies simply.

"What do you mean we should just leave it, it could irreversible damaged the object!"

"Look Jeff, let me tell you what I think, the material that the object is made of remarkably similar to what is used in forerunner construction. I'll put my whole career on the line that, that asteroid will not even dent it. However it may cause some significant disturbances in the blue orb. Scans of it show that somehow mass is being manipulated at its centre" Stephen countered his face growing a deep shade of red.

"Ok, so you would risk one of the most significant finds since the end of the great war on a hunch?!" The ONI operative exclaimed indignantly, crossing his arms in a frustrated manner.

"Yes! Believe me when I say that, that lump of rock is going to be more significant then all of the tests we have done 10km from the object itself!"

"ONI will have my head for this," Jeff grunted "let it hit the damn thing then"

* * *

_3 hours later_

"Asteroid impact in 1 minute," the dull metallic female voice rang out over the loudspeaker. Jeff and Stephen stood in the CIC surrounded by their crew quietly gazing across space as the scene unfolded in front of them. "Asteroid impact in 30 seconds." Stephen risked a quick glance at Jeff's face, his jaw is locked and his face is a mask that is impossible to read. Typical ONI operative Steve sniggered to himself, before turning his attention back to the asteroid, things were about to get interesting. As the asteroid got closer to the 'object', blue streams of energy began flowing from the blue orb and attaching to the asteroid. As it moved steadily closer the streams of blue energy became more violent ripping across the surface of the asteroid and then... It disappeared.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

The CIC erupted; everyone started shouting their opinions to the other, some in surprise, others in disbelief but one sound rose above the rest, laughter. Slowly the shouting died down as everybody turned to discover where the laughter was coming from. They all turned to the front of the bridge where the grey haired scientist Stephen was standing, chuckling to himself. "It's a relay!" he exclaimed joyfully "That's why we can detect manipulated mass at its centre! Of course!"

"Stephen what are you talking about?" questioned Jeff, the room now deathly quiet as everybody stopped what they were doing and looked at Stephen as he explained his idea.

"The 'object' is a relay of some sort; the orb must create a mass free corridor that allows travel from one point to another, this object is probably paired with another somewhere else in the galaxy."

"But what is the use of that when we have slipspace drives which allow us to travel at ftl speeds wherever we want to go?" Jeff asked, the 'object' now becoming less of a significant find as murmurs begin rippling through the rest of the crew as they begin discussing the viewpoint raised by Jeff.

"I don't know. We could try sending unmanned probes through to find out, but I suspect that the distance it will travel will cause it to go out of range. In my opinion, unless one of us takes a ship through the 'object' we will never find out what it does or how it works. But my theory could be wrong entirely and anything passing through it could find itself flattened into a tiny ball or transported into the centre of a black hole," Stephen explained. "You better send a message to ONI and tell them about this. We have no idea what's beyond the object but we better be prepared..."

* * *

1 Month later

A large UNSC fleet had amassed near the 'object', now dubbed a relay, including the pride of the UNSC fleet the UNSC _Infinity_. The plan for discovering the capabilities of the relay was simple. A skeleton crew would man the UNSC _Song of the East _a Halcyon-class light cruiser that had not been equipped with forerunner technology yet. They would then proceed to approach the relay and attempt to activate whatever sequence was in place to transport a ship from one place to another. If the ship arrived safely, it would then attempt to send a message to the remaining fleet telling them there is safe passage through the relay; and the UNSC_ Infinity_ would lead the charge through the relay and cordon off the area of space around the relay to ensure that it was secure of any potential threats.

1 hour before the operation begins aboard the UNSC _Song of the East_

Captain Hackett stood at the front of the bridge looking down at the skeleton crew that had been chosen to man the ship with him, each crewmember knew that they might only have an hour to live. But the crew of the _Song of the East _were consummate professionals; the UNSC had handpicked who would travel through the relay to ensure that they proceeded with their normal duties with calm and efficiency. Clearing his throat with a cough into his hand, Hackett straightened up and tried to look presentable as possible. He had never liked public speaking, but as a Captain he knew the importance of maintaining the morale of his crew. The idea of being the centre of attention made him feel exposed in a way that nothing else could. The knowledge that his words and in some cases his image would be heard and seen throughout the fleet didn't help matters. Anxiety and dread begin to well up within him, only to be violently quashed under the weight of his iron will. He was an officer in the UNSC Navy, and by God, he would act like it!

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he began, "My fellow crewmates and members of the UNSC fleet, today we venture once more into the unknown. We do not know what lies ahead of us, we do not know if we will return. What we do know, is that we will not be forgotten. If we were to sacrifice ourselves today for the advancement of humanity, we would be remembered. But today is not that day. Today we will charge head on into the unknown, and decipher the knowledge left behind for us. Hackett out." Cutting the connection, he sighed to himself, his eyes drifting up to the relay that lay ahead of him, the pale blue glow of the orb illuminating him showing an aging face that had seen plenty of combat. A scar cut across his face, one of the many war wounds that come hand in hand from 20 years of combat on the front lines. "Ok," he murmured, rubbing his hands together in anticipation "let's get this show on the road."

"Helmsman!" he bellowed, turning his attention back to his command, "lock in a course for the relay".

The engines of the 1.1km vessel slowly growled into life as the helmsman plotted the course towards the relay. The ship, stripped bare to avoid the loss of valuable equipment such as its Shiva nuclear missiles, slowly built up its momentum as the relay drew closer. Hackett walked to the front of the bridge where the pilot sat allowing him full view of the relay. Then 2km from the relay something happened, "Captain! We're getting a message from the relay," the pilot exclaimed shock evident in his voice "It's in binary."

"Well? What is it saying then, hurry!" Hackett snapped, the relay now looming large over the bridge.

"Running it through the AI now, It is asking us to input the mass of the ship," the pilot said, turning to Hackett for orders as he was unsure of what to do.

Hackett paused for a second as his life flashed before his eyes. The consequences of discovering another race as hostile as the covenant was something he hoped humanity would never have to encounter again.

_The covenant had breached the ship and civvies were running wild. Despite the chaos, the marines stayed focussed, this is why they had been drilled time and time again to ensure that in crunch time they performed. Several times, he watched groups of marines stay behind to give their charges time to escape. The ultimate sacrifice. _

_Hands on his pistol he followed the crowd moving towards the escape pods. There! Turing towards the movement he'd seen in his peripheral vision, he heard the sound of active camouflage dissolving and the hiss of an energy blade lighting up with white hot plasma. The Elite in his white armour lunged toward him, people screaming in fear; some marines were in a good enough position that they could open fire onto the elite without hitting any of their comrades. He managed to get off a few shots, the bullets flaring on the Elites shields, before a round managed to pierce its armour spraying purple blood onto the floor but the Elite continued its charge, heedless of its injury._

_As the Elite swung its blade upwards he jerked back, causing the blade to miss most of his body, through the tip still managed to slice open his face. Staggering back, he clutched at his face, only to find that the super-heated plasma had cauterised his wound. Locking eyes with the Elite, Hackett stared into its cold, black eyes full of unrelenting rage, before raising his pistol to head height and fires three times, the first two missed, but the third bullet drove into its skull, whipping its head back. He watched unblinkingly as the Elite crumpled to the floor in front of him. Adrenaline still coursing through his veins, he took one last breath before carrying on towards evac zone without looking back..._

The memory caused him to touch the scar on his face involuntarily. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he looked at the pilot who was waiting for an answer, "Use the AI to transmit the ships mass to the relay in binary." With a whirl of motion the pilot began taping out the commands on his console.

With the mass of the ship transmitted to the relay the ship changed its course so that its heading was no longer perpendicular to the relay but parallel. As they got closer, blue streams of energy began to fly out of the blue orb, attaching to the ship before disappeared from sight.

* * *

UNSC _Song of the East_ – Position Unknown

After a brief second, the ship reappeared only to find itself in a totally different place. The sun in the centre of the system was much larger and shined blue instead of the bright yellow of the pervious system. Hackett stood next to the pilot, momentarily relieved that they had come out of this alive. Turning as he heard footsteps behind him, he saw Morgan Harper walking towards him. He'd been assigned to the ship in order to collect and analyse the data on the ships journey through the relay. Standing a head shorter than Hackett he had to look up in order to make eye contact, "Sir," he began, "I just had the VI run an analysis on the solar system that we've found ourselves in. We've managed to travel thousands of light years across the galaxy in a blink of the eye! Not even the forerunner slipspace portals could do that! I can't imagine the technology required to achieve a feat like this, it's outstanding!" the tiny scientist exclaimed joyfully, nearly stumbling over his words his excitement "if we could reverse engineer this technology, we could travel from Earth to our Outer Colonies in mere seconds! That would cut days off of the usual time. And just think of the improvements it could make to our fast response system! We cou..."

Hackett cut him off midsentence, "Have you sent a message to the fleet yet?"

"Er, yes sir, as soon as we arrived we dropped a slipspace beacon, the message is travelling via slipspace as we speak."

"Good," Hackett replied turning to the intercom "Crew this is your captain speaking, we are in unfamiliar territory and have travelled through technology that has been created by forces unknown so I want to maintain maximum awareness. Check and double check everything and get those MAC cannons running hot just in case, Hackett out."

The _Song of the East _was bustling with activity, having recently moved to the dark side of a nearby gas giant in order to maintain a discrete presence in the system while waiting for the _Infinity_ and the rest of the fleet to arrive. Hackett stood watch over the bridge, though he made frequent trips down to engineering to help maintain the morale of his crew. The possibility of running into a new Covenant alone had everyone on edge.

The sound of an ensign manning one of the computers standing up caught his attention, causing him to turn towards the source of the sound. "Captain, they're arriving".

"Bring us into view of the relay and make sure the crew can witness the arrival of the fleet. " The ships engine screamed into life, breaking off its orbit of the gas giant until the relay was in clear sight.

Suddenly the relay began spinning up, its blue core flaring brightly as ship after ship began pouring through the relay led by the UNSC _Infinity_, proof of the UNSC's power and grandeur. The 5km long vessel was beautiful in design and above all else, the most powerful ship that the UNSC had to offer. Dozens of ships had now arrived through the relay and begun forming a defensive position around it; it was an awe-inspiring sight. Hackett stared admiringly at the fleet moving toward his lone ship for a second before turning to his communication officer. "Ensign, patch me into to the _Infinity_, the mission was a success and there is no sign of any aliens."

January 17th 2666

The UNSC maintained a sizeable fleet around both relays for a short while, but after intense examination it became clear that little information could be extracted from the relays. Whoever built them made sure that no information detailing their production or their creators could be found. Eventually they became non-starters and ships started withdrawing as more important missions came up. Exploratory vessels were put on the lookout for these relays but the chances of more being found were small.

Then after recent small pitched battles between the Coalition and the remainder of the Covenant Loyalists, the UNSC agreed to assist in the final battle, hoping to wipe out all of the Covenant Loyalists leaving the UNSC and Coalition with one less enemy. Nearly all of the ships guarding the relay had been drawn into the battle. All that is left is a scientific research vessel and 4 Frigates. All of these ships had been chosen to be left behind because they were due to be dismantled in the upcoming months, as new vessels with reversed-engineered forerunner technology were came online.

* * *

Aboard the UNSC Frigate Aegis Fate_  
_

"Why do we always get the dud assignments?" sighed Jessica, a tall marine with jet black hair, clad in her BDU's as if ready for combat, "Now we're stuck here babysitting the boffins as they inspect the relay."

"Haha," replied Mark a heavy set marine who had been in the force 10 years. "At first I was excited at the prospect of travelling to the outer reaches of UNSC space, guarding scientists investigating an ancient relic from an unknown species, I thought we may get to see some combat not watching the dust grow on our weapons."

"Yeah well," Jessica replied scrunching up some paper left lying in the room "At least we get some downtime, Swish!" she says throwing the paper across the room and into the bin. And that's when the missile struck...


	5. Chapter 5

**Author Note: Hey guys I'm really sorry about not updating sooner but it's been the steam summer sale and I saw final fantasy 7 selling for £9.99. So that's been taking up a lot of my time recently :P Anyway back on track now I hope you enjoy it!**

Turian patrol vessel _Unwavering_

Two Weeks Before First Contact

Antarius stood on the raised platform in the CIC of his ship, surveying his crew busy at work in front of him. Although it had been five months since any of them had had contact with the rest of the galaxy, he was proud to say that they were still completely focused on the job. The knowledge that this is typical for a turian vessel did nothing to diminish his sense of pride in his crew.

His race had always been very highly regimented and organised. The Hierarchy military was known for its strict discipline and work ethic, turians always followed the orders of their commanding officers to the letter. It didn't matter if their commanding officers were incompetent, delivering suicidal orders left and right. A turian would grumble, but he would always follow his orders.

When they were off-duty however, most in command turned a blind eye to the activities of their crew. Recreational drugs were allowed as long as they did not interfere with the execution of their job duties. Other turian pastimes involved fighting in the ring or taking bets on who would be the victor.

Unlike their fellow council races, the turians were highly militaristic. Only understanding the concept of total war. When spurned into battle, the turians believed in completely overwhelming their enemy with greater numbers and firepower. This allowed them to completely devastate their opponents, removing any threat of having to fight them again in the future.

Standing at over six feet tall, Antarius had a dark blue metallic carapace and white facial markings that signified his colony of origin. He was an extremely competent leader who, like all other turians, had begun his service in the military at the young age of 15.

There he had been trained extensively to stay calm under fire and be able to deliver powerful strikes to break down the enemy. Each squadron had the ability to call in air support provided by the A-61 Mantis Gunship, or when engaged in street to street fighting, combat drones. After 20 years of service, involved in missions such as fighting batarian pirates or establishing new colonies filled with hostile indigenous life forms, he left the army and switched to the navy where he became the commander of the patrol vessel _Unwavering_.

"Sagran, what's our ETA to the Theta relay?" he asks, directing his question at the older turian managing the navigational system of the ship.

"Running at FTL speeds we should arrive at the solar system in less than 30 minutes," he said.

"Good, when we get into the system make sure all weapon systems are running hot; and align the ship so that the thanix cannon is directly facing the relay," he said. Running on automatic as the same orders had been issued fifteen times and each time they encountered an inactive relay with no unauthorised presence in the system.

"Sir," Sagran replies, sipping Sedga, a caffeine based drink for turians.

Unlike most other races in the galaxy, all life on Palaven, the turian homeworld, is based on dextro-amino acids. This means that the turians are unable to consume food or drinks that have been produced on planets settled by the asari or salarians as these planets have levo-amnio acid based ecosystems. These two types of amino acids are incompatible with each other and the effects of a turian consuming levo-based amino acids may trigger a potentially fatal allergic reaction.

The _Unwavering's _design was fairly simple, it was 500m in length with long wings either side, somewhat reflective of turians mandibles. Its length was to allow a thanix cannon to be fitted on the ship, and its components ran along 50% of the length of the ship. The thanix cannons are one of the strongest weapons in council space, easily powerful enough to gut a dreadnought or any other ship for that matter. The core of the thanix cannon was a liquid alloy of iron, uranium, and tungsten suspended in an electromagnetic field powered by element zero. The molten metal could be fired at a significant fraction of the speed of light hitting targets with enough force to shatter shields and armour. Alongside the thanix cannon, the _Unwavering_ was armed with 30 broadside accelerators, not as powerful as its main weapon but they still pack a punch.

For a patrol vessel, the _Unwavering _was surprisingly powerful and well equipped. That wouldn't be the case for long though, increasing aggression from batarian raiders had prompted the Turian Hierarchy to begin recalling their weaker ships for refitting. Patrol vessels were now nearly on par with dreadnoughts but with slightly less firepower and shielding. All this new firepower was an effort to act as a deterrent for future batarian raiders.

It was an open secret that the Batarian Hegemony was backing these raids in an attempt to gather technology from the Council races, but that only made the refits more urgent. Unbound by the Treaty of Farixen, the batarians had been rapidly increasing the size of their fleet. The batarians had provoked many galactic crises over the years, eventually leading to them being thrown out of the Citadel a centuary ago.

The first was when a batarian fleet bombarded the Salarian colony world of Mannovia, killing millions and taking thousands of salarians as slaves. The Council, after retaking the colony world, decided it was better to ignore the problem than risk a confrontation. This gave the batarians incentive that they could perform even riskier actions without fear of any serious repercussions. After decades of inaction the Council finally snapped when the batarians annexed the independent Asari colony of Esan. Like the quarians before them, the batarians found themselves kicked off the Citadel. In addition, harsh sanctions were levied on them. They were unable to trade with any other Council races and were restricted to small section of space, initially patrolled by large Council fleets but petering out over time.

As time went on however, the restrictions placed upon them became weaker and weaker. Patrols became rarer and rarer, eventually letting the Hegemony begin an aggressive colonisation effort in the Skyllian Verge. Every planet colonised meant more people and resources, allowing for more armies, a larger fleet, and of course, economic growth.

The Batarians were on the rise, and the Council were turning a blind eye.

The Turian Hierarchy responded to this aggression by cracking down on piracy, the Hegemony's largest unofficial source of income, increasing the amount of patrols around many of the important Council trade routes.

The _Unwavering _slowed down to a crawl just outside of the solar system, around 30 million kilometres from the relay. Too far for any known radar to discover them.

"Captain! We're picking up many unknown signatures gathered around the mass relay!" Sagran suddenly reported "Scans are showing five vessels, four of which seem to be warships ranging from 400-600 metres."

"A new species?" questioned Antarius, a slight change in the pitch of his voice the only indication of his caution. His crew likewise maintained their rigid persona, unsurprised at this new encounter, as dozens of races had already been discovered by the council, all with varying amounts of technology and advancement.

"Yes sir, so it would seem. The design of the ships is unlike any that we have encountered before, what are your orders sir?

"Council law states the activation of relays is prohibited in areas of space that we haven't explored yet. But there are too many for us to face at the moment, though the ships seem fairly primitive. Look at the close up of their ships," he said, bringing up an enlarged image of the four ships in a defensive position around a single unarmed vessel. "The main gun fixed on the superstructures of these vessels seems too large to be the main gun for any vessel other than a dreadnought. They must be compensating for their inability to fire projectiles at a considerable speed. Also our detectors haven't found any trace element zero in their ships engines so they cannot be that advanced."

He chuckled to himself. "Whoever this race is, is clearly not as advanced as us when it comes to shipbuilding or technology. If this is the size of their main vessel than the _Destiny Ascension_ and all of our dreadnoughts completely dwarves them. Sagran, bring us to the nearest comm buoy so we can alert the Hierarchy, this race must be brought into line for breaking Council laws."

* * *

One week before first contact

The expensive mass relay comm buoys provided real-time communication across the galaxy ensuring that the Hierarchy was promptly informed of any violations of Council law. In retaliation, the Hierarchy had dispatched a sizeable fleet containing multiple dreadnoughts and an array of frigates and cruisers. This new species would be punished and forced to obey Council law.

In addition to the fleet, dozens of troop carriers were present in case a ground invasion of the new species homeworld presented itself. No element zero was present in their engines, so it was unlikely that they had developed FTL travel so far. The homeworld of this species must be nearby the corresponding relay. If the Council allowed it, this new species would be absorbed into the Turian Hierarchy. A potential source for auxiliary units that could be used to screen and support a main battle group.

High Admiral Simierus Chuzin, the man in charge of the task force and commander of the dreadnought _Indomitable, _was an aging turian who has seen his fair share of battles. Their plan was more complicated than their normal military tactics of brute force and overwhelming power. The STG had developed many first contact scenarios, each of which detailed plans for dealing with situations that might be presented. One of these plans was perfect for this situation.

Operation _Blue Lightening _

_In the event of a new species being discovered activating mass relays, action must be taken to punish them for breaking Council law before they can be allowed to join the Council system. Otherwise associate members, unhappy at their status, may believe they too can break Council laws without repercussions. _

_Firstly a number of questions must be taken in account. Does this new species have working FTL drives meaning they have a working knowledge of element zero? Or if they lack element zero in their engines, is their homeworld in the system of the relay or corresponding relay? _

_What is the estimated strength of this new species? What is their fleet and ship size? Will they best succumb to diplomatic, economic or military pressure?_

_What fleet is operational and nearby so swift justice may be dealt?_

_Is this a time of peace? If not will sending forces put a strain on current military operations leading them to be inefficiently conducted?_

_If the answers to these questions point to military intervention then the following plan can be used. _

_Plan:_

_Element Zero releases a considerable amount of energy when in use. For a new species, the readings from the ship will be highly visible and likely allow them to detect incoming ships at a range of 15 million kilometres, giving them time to prepare for battle. Time that may become a winning factor if they have advanced defence systems._

_If asteroids ranging from 500m to 2km are fitted with an element zero drive core, inert until till activation, and placed around the asteroid field and the outer edges of the solar system*. Activating them individually will cause the new species to panic, these significant readings should cause the new species to assume battle readiness. If the activation of each asteroid is staggered, the enemy would be forced to maintain that level of readiness for a long period of time, making them susceptible to fatigue. _

_To prevent the new species from recovering the drive core, each drive core will carry explosives set to detonate upon approach by unfriendly vessels. The resulting explosion should be more than enough to fragment the asteroid, potentially colliding with the enemy ship._

_*Vital point: Outer edge asteroids are important and should be concentrated on the most. The attack will come from the outer edge of the solar system and if many asteroids are already activated then the new species may think the attack is simply more coming online. This hesitation will allow the fleet time to get closer and avoid the species from readying up._

_A galactic day from activation is when the fleet should move in. The species, tired from maintaining full awareness will be unready for a swift, brutal attack._

_*Side note: If possible, and if doing so will not interfere with your primary mission, disable and board one of the ships to gather intelligence about this new race._

_Asot Tendril of the Special Tasks Group _

Fifty years ago, the Council had agreed to what many thought a costly experiment. Soon thereafter, the discovery of the planet Daratar, a planet with extremely rich and easily accessible Element Zero deposits, drove the price of eezo down galaxy-wide. To this day, the experiment holds the record for the most under-budget successful defence project. Twenty inactive relays dotted around the galaxy were fitted with this mechanism, the total cost of operations being 260 million credits annually.

Simierus had incorporated these plans into his own. With the asteroids already in place decades before hand, 100 of them had been activated by a heavily encrypted beam of faster than light energy. The asteroids had all been set on time delays to ensure that the opposition maintained full awareness over the course of the day. Fatigue was one of the most effective ways to win a battle before it had even started. Covert Turian Special Forces always began their attacks just before dawn while the hostiles were either asleep or near to it and unable to respond effectively to a sudden attack.

The battle plan was simple. Simierus would use his fleet of nine dreadnoughts, 15 frigates and 11 cruisers available to him to perform a pincer manoeuvre. He had split his forces into three groups, each assuming a wedge formation with three dreadnoughts in each squadron leading the charge, his ship naturally being the lead vessel.

With the long-range capabilities of the dreadnoughts, the battle would start with a large salvo of mass accelerator rounds, hopefully bringing down the species shields, if it had them. While what was left of the enemy tried to recover, a squadron of fighters would engage the ships; with their payload of disruptor torpedoes. These torpedoes create random and unstable mass effect fields that cause the plating on enemy ships to rip itself apart at a molecular level.

After mopping up the stragglers, his fleet would travel through the relay, hopefully finding the species homeworld or failing that a colony where information about this new species and its homeworld could be gleaned. Once the coordinates of the homeworld of the species were found, word would be sent to the Hierarchy in order for reinforcements to be sent from Palaven and the surrounding colonies for the orbital siege and occupation of their homeworld. Their attack would focus on the major cities and military bases of the planet. This new species would be forcibly annexed and brought under council law, the plan was simple...

With the preparations for battle complete, the captains commanding the ships taking part in the battle had returned to their vessels. There was only one thing left to do for Simierus to do.

Walking to the centre of the CIC, he looked over his crew before turning his gaze to the depiction of the fleet assembled around the Indomitable. He stared at it for a moment, taking in the massive assemblage of firepower that was both his to command, and his responsibility to protect. After a moment, he tapped a button on his console, projecting his voice and image on screens throughout the fleet.

"My friends, once again we have been forced to uphold Council law. A new species has been encountered that in complete disregard for galactic security, has begun meddling with objects far beyond the scope of their intelligence.

We remember what happened when the activation of a mass relay released the rachni on the galaxy. A blight on galactic civilisation that nearly doomed us to extinction, forcing us to uplift the aggressive krogan whose greed forced our ancestors to release the genophage upon them.

Today we will punish this species for endangering the lives of our friends and family; we will bring this new species under the might of the council, forcing them to bend to our rules. Once more the turians, the right hand of council might will show this race. Who! Is the strongest in the galaxy!" he said, ending his speech passionately by punching his carapace in fervour, spittle flying out of his mouth. Around him he sees the passion in his subordinates, crashing against each other in animation. The turians were ready to go into battle.

* * *

Turian Dreadnought _Indomitable_ 20,000,000km from the Theta relay

The relay was in sight, the blue orb illuminating the five ships close by. An easy target. The dreadnoughts from three different positions were leading the charge and closing in fast on the relay. A countdown rang throughout the ship from the ships VI "One minute till contact."

"Right, bring the mass accelerator online," Simierus ordered. The large mounted weapon ran 90% of the hulls length and possessed the destructive powers of a tactical nuke. It also gave the ship-class the longest effective range in the fleet. The trade-off was that it was difficult to aim; the entire 1km-long ship had to angle towards its target. Fortunately, he wouldn't have to worry about that limitation in this battle. He had enough dreadnoughts to dedicate two to each enemy warship and one to the civilian vessel.

"While our main guns are firing, have the fighter squadron break off from the main force and engage with their disruptor torpedoes, if that doesn't destroy the enemy, then enter the effective range of our thanix cannons and unleash hell." He said, addressing his bridge crew.

"Orders received, ten seconds till contact," one of them responded relaying the commands all around the ship.

"Let's do this, open fire..."

* * *

Human Frigate _Aegis Fate – _24 hours before first contact

The day had started off as normal; the scientists in their vessel had started their painstakingly slow analysis of the fifteen kilometre structure. The marines had continued with the maintenance of their weapons on the off chance they got to go into combat, and Captain Matthew Lindsay, leader of this small band of ships, once again sat in his chair drinking his tenth coffee of the day. He sighed dejectedly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. This had to be the single most boring assignment he'd ever had. And considering he'd once been assigned a desk job that was saying something.

The console in front of one of the ensigns flickered on, a bright blue orb, similar to that of the relay, appeared on his screen. "Uh oh," he murmured, taking a quick breath "Captain!" he shouted, "Anomaly one million clicks away amongst the asteroid field."

"Vigil," Matthew said, raising his voice to speak to the AI "Patch me through to the others ships."

"Opening connections sir," Vigil replied in a disembodied male's voice.

"This is Captain Lindsay of the UNSC _Aegis Fate _we're detecting a strange anomaly off to our starboard one million clicks away. Assume battle stations, I repeat assume battle stations."

Around him the crew had begun moving into action. The MAC cannons heating up, taking time to reach full power, the marines put on their armour and gathered their weapons, and the archer crews were standing by, their missiles all ready to be fired.

"Vigil," he said, "what is our situation?"

"Sir, we are reading massive fluctuations of power from that anomaly, I can't tell you the source of it though, its highly unusual, nothing we have encountered so far. But what I can tell you is that it's definitely not forerunner or Covenant"

Matthew brought the information up on his screen, staring at the readings in front of him. "I'm seeing no movement or any sign of hostility from the object," said Vigil, his hologram appearing beside Matthew. Vigil took the appearance of the famous English redcoat; he wore a bright red coat with an underlying white wool waist coat and black cocked hat.

"Ok," Matthew said, "we need to investigate this disturbance, but let's be smart about it. Keep the MAC hot and get a firing solution calculated. I want to be able to blast that thing if it shows the slightest sign of hostility.

I want a message sent to Shanxi immediately, have the UNSC Andraste travel through the relay to send the message." Internally he knew that with the majority of the fleet occupied in the Sagittarius cluster of the galaxy, reinforcements were unlikely. Still, he had to notify the rest of the UNSC, and saying it was to get reinforcements would help keep morale up despite the loss of a quarter of their fleet strength.

He hoped to God that they wouldn't need it.

The ship powered its way towards the anomaly, MAC trained on it. Standing up in nervous anticipation, Matthew held the console in front of him in a death grip as the ship closed until it was 300km away from the object. Matthew had judged this to be a suitable distance, as it was far enough from the anomaly for them to have time to retaliate if it opened fire, yet well within the effective range of their MAC.

"The anomaly is an asteroid around 600m long with an unidentifiable machine fixed onto its side. I'm detecting traces of dark matter leaking from it," Said Vigil, filling the CIC with his gruff British accent.

Matthew leaned against his console. After years of getting the crappy assignments maybe this was his chance to do something significant and show the UNSC what he could do. He just hoped nothing would go wrong.

"Move us closer to the object so we can recover it and give it to boffins to work on," Matthew ordered.

For 20,000km, nothing happened. Then, 2000km from it, a huge explosion erupted from the asteroid in front of the ship, filling it with a bright yellow glow. Chunks of rock exploded outwards from the asteroid. The ship, hopeless to avoid the onslaught of rocks sent crashing into it shields, took massive damage along its bow.

"MAC inoperable, decks 7, 8, 9 and 10 venting gas into space." The AI reported.

"Shit!" Matthew grimaced, the jarring of the rocks causing him to fall to the floor, "Any casualties?"

"We've lost around fifteen people when part of our hull split open, we also have multiple injuries above and below the rupture that are being looked at by medics as we speak."

"Jesus, bring us back to the relay so we can begin repairs, we can't desert our post and we have discovered more signs of new alien life."

"Sir, another spike of energy 50,000km from us!" an ensign called out.

"Ignore it! Return to the relay."

* * *

12 hours before first contact

The crew of the _Aegis Fate _had been repairing the MAC for hours now, but its superstructure had been severely damaged from the asteroid chunks and could now only run at 68% efficiency. Worse, engineering had informed him that its efficiency would deteriorate by 2% every minute the gun was active. Taking the charging time into account, he figured they might be able to get off a few good shots if they were lucky. But after that his ship was crippled.

Nearly all of the crew were still manning their posts as more and more objects keep appearing throughout the solar system. Destroying the objects was not an option. Using their supply of archer missiles or MACs would be wasteful considering they were on full alert. The marines had been ordered to stand down for the time being. Guarding a space ship where the only contact was outside and not on solid ground was a waste of marine time. Marines could be ready to go in minutes; standing guard while in full armour would simply cause them to tire and because they are men of action, grow bored.

5 minutes before first contact

It had been nearly 24 hours since the fleet had gone to full alert. There were regular shift changes, but with the threat of impending doom hanging over everyone nobody could sleep.

Captain Matthew had been up for the past 24 hours and still more and more asteroids embedded with the strange object had been cropping up all around the system. Word from the UNSC had gotten back to them several hours ago. They are to hold this position until the Covenant Loyalists have been defeated and they can be rotated to a different assignment. Unknown to the rest of the crew, Captain Lindsay is set to be court marshalled for his rash actions which endangered his ship and the lives of his crew. But now wasn't the time to tell them...

"Captain, we have 30 objects appearing on the outer edge of the solar system around 20 million kilometres away from us." Vigil commented.

"Hmm interesting, log it and calculate the path of their trajectory," Matthew replied glancing at the monitor in front of him displaying the set of asteroids that had recently been activated.

He paused for a brief second as something caught his eye. "Bring the MAC cannon online, ready the archer missiles and contact the other ships to defend the scientific vessel so they can retreat through the relay, we're about to be attacked," he said calmly.

"What!?" exclaimed a communication officer shock evident on his face.

"The objects are heading straight for us and are in a classic wedge formation, now relay my orders."

The communication officer quickly turned back to his console to do as he was told, but it was already too late. The vessels, easily capable of travelling 12 light years per day, had traversed the 20 million kilometre distance separating the two fleets in the blink of an eye and were already upon them...


	6. Chapter 6

**Author Note: Hey guys this is the first fight scene I've ever written so I would like as much feedback as possible. What was I good at, what did I suck at etc. etc. Anyway thanks for reading :p**

Chapter 5

Aboard the _Aegis Fate_

They dropped out of FTL around 10000km from the UNSC ships. Weapons powered, they released their first shells straight away. The UNSC ships had just started moving into defensive positions as Matthew watched the blue slugs tear through the air towards the waiting UNSC ships. Only seven of the deadly slugs managed to make contact with his and the surrounding ships under his command, detonating on their shields in bright, blue flashes.

"Sir, shields down to 95% and holding firm! MAC cannons 40% and charging!" An ensign shouted.

"Sir, the scientists are still not aboard their ship, it's going to take them several minutes to get aboard and through the relay" called out another.

"Initiate Cole Protocol," Matthew said, an order that had not been given since the Human-Covenant war, "divert as much power as you can to get those MACs charged, now!" Matthew replied. "Vigil," he said pulling his attention away from the second salvo incoming from the enemy ships. "Give me and the other ships firing solutions for the nearest vessels."

"Uploading now sir" replied Vigil.

"Good. We need to protect the scientists for as long as possible, let's do this," Matthew said determinately.

Aboard the _Indomitable_

With a speed of 4000km/s and a reload speed of just two seconds, the turian vessels could release shot after shot rapidly, pummelling the five vessels. Simierus stood still as the recoil from the mass accelerator caused the ship to shake, rattling the crew. This rate of fire couldn't be sustained for long, the mass accelerators were already beginning to heat up and the recoil could potentially damage the ships systems. The second set of metal slugs slammed into the weakened shields of the enemy vessel but once again the shields held firm.

"Hmm," Simierus found himself murmuring "it seems this species may have better shielding then we first thought." He thought deeply for a moment before raising his voice for his bridge crew to hear, "Their shields are still holding but they must be weakening from our onslaught, send our fighter squadrons in and bring the thanix cannons online and fire at will."

* * *

Aboard the _Aegis Fate_

"Sir! Shields now at 75% and we have fighter squadrons inbound."

"MAC now at 68% all other ships fully charged and ready to fire on your command," another ensign said.

"Fire!" Matthew yelled, feeling the ship shudder underneath him as it released its 600 tonne projectile.

Four white orbs flew through space, one lagging slightly behind the others, smashing into two of the enemy ships leading the charge to the left of them. Four direct hits on two vessels, the first crippling the shields and the second scoring a direct hit. One projectile gutted the ship from bow to stern; the other hit the ship right on its drive core causing internal explosions all across its length.

"We need to defend ourselves and the science vessel from all those fighters. Send in the Longswords," Matthew ordered, "Wait a second, hold one in reserve," he added as an afterthought.

"Sir we can't hold this m...," Tuner cut his protest short under the stern glare of Matthew, "Relaying orders now, sir" he said stiffly.

Bay doors opened along the _Aegis _and the three other frigates. Longswords spewed out of the vessels like a swarm of angry bees, instantly engaging into a dogfight with the enemy fighters.

* * *

The battle was fierce. Gram for gram the fighting power of the Longsword was much higher than the turian fighter. But this wasn't an even battle. This was far from it. The turian tactic of simply overwhelming the opposition was working.

Turian fighters were designed to be cheap, reliable, and powerful enough to overload the defence systems of any known ship. They pummel the enemy craft with all they've got, the first few fighters taking heavy damage from the anti-fighter lasers, but leaving the ones behind it unharmed. After a few minutes of continuous firing the lasers would begin to overheat, at which point the failsafes would kick-in. The lasers would shut-down and the fighters— unhindered by defensive five— could make full use of their disruptor torpedoes. This type of combat could be transferred to nearly any combat scenario. This battle, although unlike anything they have faced before, was still just a battle.

Two fleets, one attacking one defending, the smaller expendable units enter the fray first, the fighters. A small separate battle from the mighty slugs the dreadnaughts are hurling across space at each other. But whose outcome would nevertheless determine the course of the battle.

Bullets smashed into shields and tore at metal as the pilot corkscrewed to dodge another Longsword already engaged in a fierce dogfight with an enemy fighter. The two contestants were in their own little world, oblivious to the raging battle being fought in-front of them. The pilots had to remain focused, as even the slightest lapse in concentration was all the opportunity their opponents would need to shoot them down.

Target in sight, he squeezed the trigger, unleashing the ASGM-10 missiles that smashed into the engine of the enemy fighter and caused it to spiral out of control. Suddenly warning bells sounded in the cockpit; another fighter had joined the fray and was engaging from the rear. Pulling the stick back, he moved the vessel in a tight loop until the enemy was in-front of him.

His opponent dived to the right, throwing their fighter through a series of loops and other aerial acrobatics in an attempt to lose him. Throughout it all, the pilot doggedly tailed his target, before seizing an opportunity and engaging with his 110mm, turning the enemy ship into scrap.

He didn't have long to savour the kill though, as the sound of a proximity warning snapped his attention to a flaming wreck just in time to see it clip his starboard wing. Warnings burst to life throughput the cockpit, nearly drowning him in a sea of alarms and flashing lights before he managed to dismiss them. He'd only need one to tell him the score anyway.

One of his Oxygen tanks had been punctured, and a quick estimate told him he only had about 5 minutes of air left. Even if he hadn't been in the middle of the largest furball he'd ever seen outside of the movies, it would still have taken twice that long to get back to a friendly ship. Time seemed to slow down as the ramifications hit him; he was going to die out here.

The flash of a Longsword exploding as it passed through his field of view brought his attention back to the present. With a snarl he worked the remaining controls, fighting with the ailing fighter to obey his will. Slowly, and then gradually faster, the ship angled for an intercept course with the one responsible, who was too focused on avoiding the expanding debris cloud of its victim to worry about a harmless wreck. Foolish. If he was going down, then he was going to take one of them with him.

* * *

"Sir," Turner exclaimed "we simply cannot hold off this many ships we must retreat." He said, his fingers already plotting a heading out of the system.

"Tuner there are millions of people living in Shanxi and the surrounding colony worlds, we are not going to go down without a fight, now stand down or I'll have you removed from the control room!" Matthew said angrily.

"This is suicide! You're going to get us all ki —," he started, before getting cut-off by the Captain's powerful right hook to the jaw, which instantly knocked him unconscious.

"Get this thing out of my control room!" Matthew shouted, pointing to one of the marines standing by.

Turning back around to face the advancing fleet, he clasped his hands behind his back in nervous anticipation.

"How's our shields holding up?" he questioned.

"50% and dropping every second."

Matthew exhaled loudly, rubbing his face in weariness. "What's the status on our MACs?"

"Too slow to recharge, we can fire now but our projectile will be even weaker than last time."

"Do it and release all of our archer missiles," Matthew said "Let's give these bastards one last present."

He felt the ship shudder once more, as the ship released its whole payload. The missiles leaving tiny exhaust trails as it moved towards the enemy ships. The MACs slammed into two more ships, one listing at a 45 degree downwards angle as explosions ripped through its hull. The other struck the lead ship causing it to glow red hot from the MAC, the metal boiling from the intense heat, leaving a wide hole in its starboard bow. Some of the archer missiles guided by Vigil detonated inside this hole causing the ship to break apart. The remaining archer missiles smashed into the ships further along the wedge shattering the shields of four frigates, but only managing to inflict superficial damage.

Matthew smirked to himself as he watched the scientific vessel flee through the relay. Being outnumbered 4-30, the odds were never in his favour, but he still managed to take out four of the enemy's largest ships with two small salvos, and the crew of the science vessel managed to escape unharmed. Once the UNSC fleet arrives they wouldn't stand a chance.

"Vigil... It's been great working with you but we cannot allow you to get captured or destroyed," Matthew said gravely.

"Thank you sir, it's been an honour to work for you," Vigil replies saluting Matthew.

Pulling Vigil's data crystal chip out of the data port on the bridge, Matthew handed it to Lieutenant Lake, "Give this to the Longsword I held in reserve and have them fly through the relay and deliver it to our forces at Shanix, hurry!"

With that, he glanced around his ship humming a tune to himself, waiting for the inevitable as the shields aboard his ship flickered and then failed.

* * *

The CIC of the _Indomitable _was deafly quiet; they had lost four dreadnoughts to a race they had all deemed primitive. Simierus had been wrong, and the men under his command had paid the price for his overconfidence. This new race had fired two bursts and taken out four dreadnoughts.

Anger welled up inside of him, breaking his composure, "Kill them, kill them all!" he shouted. Two bright beams of molten metal shot out of the _Indomitable's _thanix cannon towards the enemy ships. The beams were soon joined by those of the remaining dreadnoughts, the combined firepower finally managing to break through the enemy shields. Sensing an opportunity, the fighters swept in and released their disruptor torpedoes. Point defence guns on the ships managed to destroy some of the torpedoes, but the remaining ones hit the hulls of the four ships, ripping them apart.

"Sir, one of the vessels managed to retreat through the mass relay!" announced Vallokius, a turian from Simierus' homeworld who had been by his side for years now.

"Send a message to the Hierarchy for reinforcements; it seems we have underestimated the strength of our opponents," Simierus replied as he brought up a holographic projection of the solar system, his fleet designated by flickering blue dots. He began rearranging the positioning of the remainder of his forces to cover the loss of the four dreadnoughts. Their loss was a blow to the overall fire power of his fleet, but it wasn't enough to force him to abandon the attack. They would fly through the mass relay, find one of their planets, and make them pay.

* * *

UNSC Remote Scanning Outpost _Damascius_- In orbit around Shanxi

Surprisingly not much happens on the edge of UNSC space, once the pandemonium surrounding the relays had died down, the staff of the Shanxi observation post was brought off overtime and had resumed their regular duties.

"Ollie, duck!" shouted Ben as he threw the book, 'Workplace Behaviour: Eliminating Abusive Work Environments' at his head.

"Jog on," snapped Ollie ducking just in time as the book sailed over his head. He turned around to see Ben swivelling around in his chair laughing.

"Ha ha, very funny," he said sarcastically, throwing the book back at him. "You know, maybe if you spent this much time doing productive work instead of dicking around, you could actually do something with your career. Maybe get a promotion or something."

"Oh really?" said Ben, casually catching the book one handed. "And miss out on your day to day hissy fits, not on your life mister!"

"One of these days your sorry arse is going to get booted out of here faster than you can say, I'm a massive jackass," retorted Ollie.

They both squared up to each other, not breaking the other's gaze, then Ben smiles.

"Yes!" exclaimed Ollie raising his arms in triumph, "I am the king of chicken and you sir are the loser."

"Ha ha, come on you nerd back to work," replied Ben as he shook his head in defeat.

Turning back to his station, Ben tried to focus on analysing the sensor feeds returned by the _Damascius' _probes every time they transitioned back into normal space. Each probe was designed to enter slipspace, scan it, and then transition back to report its findings. The screen in-front of him was full of all kinds of data but nothing noteworthy. He could stare at the screen for hours and all he would see was the same thing time and time again. UNSC trash dumps, clouds of primordial atomic hydrogen and maybe even the occasional comet that somehow smashed its way into slipspace.

"I've got squat, what about you Ollie?" questioned Ben.

"Well somehow my job is more boring than yours if that is even possible. I'm just stuck here watching the mass relay for any anomalous results and oh what a surprise," he says in mock disbelief "nothing. Another long day huh?"

"Looks that way mate, here's to another fun nine hours," he said, raising a glass to Ollie.

"You've got that right," said Ollie, returning the gesture.

They sat in silence for another four hours, staring intensely at their monitors. Without warning the COM alert pinged, "Got fluctuations coming from the mass relay someone's coming through" said Ollie.

"Who is it?" Ben asked, sliding his chair across the room till he is facing Ollie's terminal.

"It's the science vessel, probably broken a microscope or something," he said jokingly "they're trying to contact us, patching them through now."

"They're dead! They're all dead!"

They both sat there in stunned silence as the man on the comm broke down into an incoherent wreck.

As the man's babbling continued, Ben looked at Ollie. Ollie looked at Ben. Then, nearly as one, they both slammed their hands together, performing that most ancient of dispute resolution systems: Rock, Paper, Scissors.

"Oh bloody hell!" Ollie cried, sending Ben—who was bearing a large smug and self-satisfied grin—a death glare. "Fine! I'll handle it!"

Turning back to the console, he tried his best to get something intelligible from the captain.

"Ok, ok calm down, please, calm down and tell me everything that just happened," Ollie said decisively, his hands reaching up to straighten his glasses.

"They... They were everywhere, they just started shooting at us, we had no warning, the anomalous source of energy in their ship was the same as the asteroids, they just appeared and attacked..." he petered out again, gasping for breath.

"Who attacked you, the Covenant?" Ollie pressed.

"No. Never seen ships like that before, small high velocity rounds, short reload time, unusual energy readings, I wish we could have studied them before they attacked, armed with explosives though, detonated on proximity, damaged the _Aegis_...," the ramblings continued on as Ben and Ollie shared a look.

"Ok, thank you. Please proceed to docking bay 21 on the Shanxi orbital space station" said Ollie as he cut the connection.

"Ben," Ollie said "Get as many ships escorting the science vessel as you can, they need to be debriefed."

"Righto, we should have squadron of Longswords available on a moment's notice. I'll contact them now."

They looked at each other again, as Ollie opened up a connection to a new person. "General Williams sir, we have a problem."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6

Classified Military Base – Shanxi

The brightly lit corridors of the base were alive with activity. People bustled along narrow pathways, and through hastily set up defensive positions to get to their destination. The feeling inside the building was one of nervous dread, in a short while an unknown alien force would barrel down upon them testing the ill-equipped defences of Shanxi.

Although the largest and most densely populated of the new colonies, most of its advanced defence systems were still not operational. The UNSC had opted not to rush the construction of defences on these planets, instead focussing on industrial and economic production. They had relied on their vast fleet to act as a deterrent against any potential raiders. There was one flaw to this plan however, a deterrent only works when others know it exists. The possibility of another hostile alien race being discovered was considered low and the chances of making contact with a new alien race in the outer colonies while most of the main fleet was occupied was considered downright miniscule.

At the bottom of one of the corridors buried deep in the base was a door flanked by two guards. A man strode towards the door, four stars emblazed across his chest. As he reached the end of the corridor, the two guards saluted him, before opening the door and allowing him straight in.

Inside was a large room full of people, everyone's head turned towards him as he entered the room. They straightened to attention as he stopped in front of them.

The man had slicked-jet black hair and was wearing Army Dress Uniform. He began talking without a moment's notice.

"At 1100 hours today, UNSC forces outside the relay were engaged by a new, hostile alien species of around 40 ships. Despite being outnumbered, they managed to hold the enemy fleet back long enough for the UNSC _Calculus _and Vigil to escape."

Bowing his head sombrely Williams continued, "No word has been heard from them since, and we must assume that they have been completely destroyed".

Looking back up at the officers surrounding him, a fire seemed to blaze in the General's eyes. "But their sacrifice was not in vain. Vigil managed to collect a great deal of information from them before being ordered back to Shanxi. Thanks to their sacrifice we now have accurate information about the size and armament of the enemy fleet. Vigil, if you would."

As he finished his sentence Vigil appeared beside him and the lights in the room dimmed. An overhead protection displayed a brief video of the battle as Vigil provided a voice over.

"For twenty four hours we had been experiencing many anomalies that were slowly being activated at first but gradually increasing over time. I failed to recognise the difference from one of the anomalies and the enemy ships allowing us to be caught off-guard," he said sadly, hanging his head in shame.

"However, Captain Matthew Lindsay soon realised the threat and we managed to hold a reasonable defence for a short period of time."

"The main weapons of the enemy ships were low powered, high rate of fire, cannons. More impressive was that the enemy vessels were able to mount a shield capable of withstanding a MAC round, despite their small size. Captain Lindsay managed to destroy four of their largest ships that started the barrage against us. Their ships ranged from 1km all the way to around 200m. Just as I was leaving the system I detected numerous ships behind the fighting vessels. They were not involved in the conflict, merely releasing the fighters that provided the finishing blow to our vessels. But these vessels were around 1km long, easily capable of housing thousands of troops.

Vigil carried on as the video changed to the battle between the fighters. "Our fighters are technologically superior to theirs, however they managed to win due to the sheer number of fighters they had on the field of play. The pilots seem to be well trained and armed, sacrificing themselves if it becomes necessary. I imagine the balance of power will quickly swing into our favour when reinforcements arrive."

The video ended and the lights lit up. It was William's turn to take the stage once more.

"I wish I had better news to give you all. I'm afraid although we have information on their fleet and the type of weapons they use, we have no idea what their ground capabilities are like, or what type of weapons or vehicles they can deploy onto the battle field. At the moment we are holding many forces in reserve as we don't know the true intention of our assailant. Once they arrive we can send these units where they are needed most.

"We have begun evacuating the major cities, moving the civilians to farmland areas where they are less likely to be harmed from any attacks the aliens may do. However now that word has gotten out about the impending invasion, large portions of the civilian population have panicked and despite our best efforts have gridlocked roads leading out of the cities. We are facing the problem of there being simply too many people, and not enough time to move them all, so civilian casualties are likely."

"Already, we have been beefing up our defences around our bases and the major civilian areas, but the lack of naval presence means we will be unable to defend the base if they attack us from orbit. Our defences are simply not dug deep enough into the ground, so in the event of an orbital bombardment we may have to abandon our base, conducting our operations from a mobile base where we can coordinate the defence force. Our main goal is to protect civilian lives at all costs and await the arrival of UNSC reinforcements," he said solemnly, "Stephen do you have anything to add?" he said, directing the question at his subordinate.

"Thank you General. Cole protocol has been initialised. Data banks containing all confidential information are being deleted as we speak. The enemy will find no information about any other colonies or any of our technology. We have a Spartan IV team stationed at Shanxi, they have been training colonial forces here as well as on some of the nearby colonies. Some have been deployed into the city to set up FOB's in order to protect the civilians and ambush any hostile aliens if they do land in the city. The others have been deployed to key areas, such as all our bases and important industrial areas around the planet."

"Thank you Stephen," replied Williams. "The size of the fleet could be for anything, it could house an occupation force or this may even be a Covenant style glassing fleet."

The mention of glassing sent a ripple of unease throughout the room. Thirteen years had passed since the Human-Covenant war had ended, but the atrocities the Covenant wreaked upon Humanity were still fresh in everybody's mind. An uneasy alliance had since been established between humanity and several of the ex-Covenant races, but an undercurrent of hatred for each other had kept relations from progressing any further than that.

It takes time to heal the scars of war, especially those as evident as the scars adorning nearly every UNSC planet from Harvest all the way to Earth. It would take even more time for the horrific events of the war to become a distant memory and a new, more forgiving generation to take control. One willing to look beyond past difficulties to ensure cooperation and peace. The older generation would always remember the loved ones they have lost. They may forgive, but they sure as hell would never forget.

"You all have the latest reports in-front of you, detailing our defences and strategies for this up-coming conflict. All of which must be destroyed before you leave the room. Ah Julie, do you have a question?" he said, pointing to the blonde women with her hand raised.

"Yes, thank you General. Surely splitting up the few Spartan IV's we have around the planet will reduce their effectiveness?"

"That's a good point, but you need to remember that Spartans are more than just our best soldiers. They're one of our most powerful morale boosters. It has been said that a single Spartan is enough to turn the tide of battle. Often forgotten is why. It has been observed time and again that soldiers fighting alongside Spartans fight harder, are more ferocious, and have far greater effectiveness than those fighting alone. In situations like we are facing now, where we must wait for the enemy to come to us, that broad effect is far more valuable than any boost to individual combat effectiveness.

"Thank you General," replied Julie, as another person raised their hand.

"General. Can't we get support from the other outer colonies, rather than wait for word from the Inner colonies and the fleet to arrive after their fight against the Covenant Loyalists?"

"Well Max that was our first thought. Unfortunately the nearby colonies are in the same boat as we are in terms of defence. They would need to send virtually everything they have our way if they wanted to have a chance of success. That would leave their own colonies wide open against threats. And I for one am not willing to bet the lives of everyone on those colonies on the assumption that Shanxi is the only colony being targeted by these aliens. Another point is, this incoming fleet may not seem to be that large but we have no idea what's happening beyond the relay. This fleet of forty or so ships may be a ploy, tempting us to show our hand and attack early. When in reality they have a massive fleet just seconds away."

The door of the room suddenly opened and a red-faced aide rushed into the room.

"General! You've got an urgent message coming from the RSO," he said breathlessly.

"Give it here then" he snapped, annoyed at being interrupted. He pressed a button on the data pad and a holographic image of Ollie appeared on it.

"Sir, thirty six ships have just come out of the relay. They're heading straight for us."

"Dammit, I thought we had more time," murmured Williams, before something occurred to him. "Ollie what are you doing there? I thought everyone had evacuated from the RSO?"

"Yes sir, luckily changes to the old Cole Protocol means we no longer have to blow our baby up, but we had some problems scrubbing the data banks so Ben and—"

"Hey!" shouted Ben, his head suddenly appearing on the hologram only to be shoved away by Ollie. Continuing his sentence as though the incident had never occurred.

"—I volunteered to stay behind to make sure everything was properly deleted."

"We'll send over a pelican to evacuate you straight away," said Williams.

"No can do," replied Ollie, "It's too risky and you're going to need as many people as you can muster, don't worry we'll be fine they'll probably ignore us and head straight for you."

"Er, Ollie," Ben called out, "one of the ships has broken formation and is heading straight for us."

"Oh..." said Ollie awkwardly. "Do we have any guns?"

"Give me a second," replied Ben. The sound of shuffling could be heard off screen. "Oh awesome we've got two M6 pistols!"

"Sweet, how many bullets?"

"36."

"Oh nice! One for each ship," exclaimed Ollie, happy despite the fact a horde of enemies was about to barrel down upon his small station. "Yeah we've got this," he said turning back to Williams.

Williams paused to stare at the young man in front of him. So full of energy and enthusiasm, about to be cut down in his prime. Thousands of people like him would die in this conflict and if it didn't stop here, the numbers would run into the millions. But how significant does that number feel? One million, two million, three million. The terrible thing is that somehow when the numbers get to figures like that, you stop thinking about them as human beings. Add enough zeros to the end and they just become ants.

"Good luck to you both," said Williams snapping off a smart salute.

"Aye aye sir," replied Ollie, returning the gesture.

Williams disconnected the feed, turning back to the group of men and women in-front of him.

"Once again we find ourselves engaged by a hostile alien species. Unprepared and undefended, we have to stand strong against the enemy. We have faced our fair share of war, even before we reached out to the stars. But we have to give everything, even if it means our lives. We will stop at nothing. We will fight for the lost. We are the defenders of the UNSC! And we will not tolerate their actions! Return to your men, let's make these bastards wish they never found us.

* * *

Aboard the Turian Dreadnought_ Indomitable_

"Sir, we've got no enemy presence in the area," announced Vallokius as they arrived on the other side of the relay. "Scanning... We're picking up readings from the fifth planet, that's our boy."

"Enhance the scans, find the most densely populated areas and see if you can pick up any readings from ground forces." Simierus replied.

"Sir," Vallokius responded, typing in the new search parameters. "The planet doesn't seem to be widely populated. There are a few densely populated areas around the equator, but nothing on the rest of the planet. We've got numerous artificial satellites orbiting the planet, however most look dead, and in the air, we're getting absolutely no readings from them, the largest working one being around 100m in length."

"This can't be their homeworld. But it doesn't make sense, how have they managed to settle multiple worlds without working knowledge of element zero? Every known species has developed FTL travel from prothean artefacts. We're going to have to invade the world and try to gather information on this species, send one of the frigates to investigate the large working satellite, there may be valuable information aboard. Destroy the rest they may house communication systems or defence systems and it would be wise to prevent them from reaching out to other colonies before we establish a foot hold on this planet," said Simierus.

The fleet moved closer to the planet, positioning itself four hundred miles above it, out of orbit of any of the satellites. After no attack came from the planet a single frigate was dispatched to the satellite on the other side of the planet. The bay doors on the bottom of the ship opened up and a single shuttle flew from it heading straight towards the station.

* * *

Classified Military Base – Shanxi

"There's 36 ships in orbit around our planet now, what the hell are they waiting for?" questioned Williams, staring intensely at the screen in-front of him.

"No idea sir, but a ship has broken off from the pack and is heading straight towards the RSO," replied Stephen.

"Dammit," he murmured to himself, "you relax on the basics and it comes back to bite you in the keister.

"General?" asked Stephen.

"We're simply not prepared for an attack on this scale," complained Williams, "The colony has only been up and running for a few years now and focus has naturally been on development and establishing population zones. We thought we had no equal, no one to challenge our might. A new aggressive space-faring race wasn't on our list of potential challenges. We have incomplete weapon emplacements dotted around the planet and in space. Half of the troops we have on the ground are greenhorns, we only have a few specialized units who are capable of fighting this kind of warfare. We should've built sufficient defences first before we allowed millions to settle here."

"And?" prompted Stephen, sensing there was more on the General's mind.

"And now those two young men up there are potentially the first of thousands of innocents to die," he said motioning to the hologram of the RSO with the shuttle now docked alongside it. "But we're not going to lie down easily. Those bastards are going to have to fight for every inch of land."

* * *

Aboard the Turian Dreadnought Indomitable

Simerius gazed down at the planet below him, a fire burning within him. Four ships lost, only recently re-commissioned. Thousands dead and all because of him. This was meant to be a simple clean up job. Move in and subdue the primitives with overwhelming force and bring them under citadel rule.

But they had acted too hastily, with their rigid desire to uphold the law. They had performed an operation without gathering information about this new species. Who were they? What did they even look like? All intelligence officers had to offer them were the sizes of the ships outside of the relay and the theorised size of the weapons they had.

But he would not falter, he would uphold the law. This species may be stronger than first thought, but look at this planet. Undefended with nothing to protect it, the occupations helpless to his fleet. They may be strong, but the Turian Empire was stronger.

"Admiral," a voice broke him out of his slumber.

"What is it Vallokius?" Simerius snapped, annoyed at losing his focus.

"There's lots of movement and chatter around this area, I think this is their base of operations."

"Destroy it," replied Simerius.

"What? Sir?" stuttered Vallokius "Planetary bombardment has been outlawed we can't do this."

"Four thousand men are dead. Because of them," Simerius responded, shaking with rage.

"Sir, you can't do this, the Hierarchy won't allow this," Vallokius said, squaring up with Simerius now. The whole crew was now watching them, the tension in the CIC was high.

"Vallokius. You are a turian! Do you have any honour? Get back to work or get out," Simerius shouted.

In that split second Vallokius seemed to age a hundred years, "Sir," he replied emotionlessly, sitting back down at his console.

Turning away, Simerius gave the order to begin bombardment, his mind already focused on the target base. Dismissing the crew from his mind.

As the Dreadnoughts moved into position Simerius nearly trembled in anticipation, nearly euphoric at the thought of these aliens burning and screaming in terror. He'd burn them all! No one would stand against the might of the Hierarchy!

Out of the corner of his eye he caught the flash of the first dreadnought firing, soon followed by the rumble of _Indomitable_ lashing out at these vermin. As the rounds impact the surface of the planet, he couldn't help but marvel at their beauty as they purged the ugly filth on the planet. A look of euphoria clear across his face.

"Send the troops in to secure the planet. I want to know everything. I want their knowledge, I want their colonies and I want their homeworld. I want them on their knees begging for forgiveness. And they shall have it. But not yet. This planet is mine."


End file.
